


Linger

by TheTrainTicket



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Emotional Manipulation, M/M, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 08:44:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14565318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTrainTicket/pseuds/TheTrainTicket
Summary: "...Hello?"





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I finally wrote a fic that doesn't involve 96 getting laid

There came a point in his life where Yusaku found himself living in Aoi’s house. The twelve-year-old, no parents, no living family members to speak of, had been taken in by Zaizen, someone who could relate to his situation, but it was Aoi who gave him the most attention.

She would make sure he was getting along fine with his classes, help him study for any upcoming exams, double check that club activities weren’t overly exerting him. That sort of thing.

It was part of the daily routine, even before he moved in, and so, when it seemed as if another option was unavailable, Yusaku just became part of the household. Things remained pretty ordinary after that. Go to school, go home, Zaizen returned around dinner time, disappeared for the remainder of the day, and the robots attended household chores.

Yusaku supposed he was lucky.

He heard the door open, but didn’t bother to turn his head. There was only one person it could be at this hour.

“Good evening, Yusaku!” Aoi said in her usual demeanor – not quite cheerful, but a little perkier than his own tone.

He lifted an arm in a half-attempted wave, showing that he acknowledged her. She placed her books along the coffee table before placing herself on the floor next to him.

“Did you have a productive day at school?”

“Yeah.”

“Any upcoming tests I should know about?”

“No.”

“Plans for the weekend?”

“Do we?”

He didn’t know why she bothered asking him that one, since he would only leave the house if the whole family did, but every week, she would go ahead and let it fly. He supposed it was meant to be a change a pace – after all, if wasn’t something she could ask every single day like the others. It didn’t change his slight contempt, however.

“Oh, you know my brother…” Aoi waved her hand in the air nonchalantly, trying to hide her rolling eyes by shutting them. “Always saying we’ll do something fun together, but then gets caught up at work…”

“Mmm…” Yusaku nodded, bringing his knees to his chest and resting against them. Normally he’d make some off-comment about how Zaizen should take a vacation, and then Aoi would snicker at the suggestion, and the two would sit around, either discussing duel monsters or watching the news, until it was time for supper.

Normally, Yusaku rather liked talking to Aoi about her brother. It was the only time she didn’t ask so many questions and spoke to him in a typical, conversational manner. But he decided there wasn’t much else to really discuss on the manner. It was just going to be another usual evening and a usual weekend.

~

Yusaku found himself unable to sleep that night. He tried to go over everything in his head, see if he could find an outlier that would be causing him this uneasiness. Aoi went to bed the same time he did, Zaizen returned home and was in his study. Their two robots were stirring about in the hallways. Yusaku would occasionally hear their wheels and gears as they passed across his room, and the slight noise brought him a little comfort. It reminded him that all was as it should be.

Except, he could not hear the robots. He hadn’t heard them in several hours, not since he and Aoi had called it a night. They might have been in another part of the house, such as the kitchen or the living room, but that was the case every night, and Yusaku would still manage to catch them here and there around his door.

Everything must have been fine, they… probably were just given extra chores further down the house. Something Zaizen didn’t feel was particularly important to inform Yusaku of. No alarms went off, and surely Zaizen would have made some sort of commotion if there was an intruder or something of the like. 

So, he turned in his bed, away from the small glare of the hall light sneaking in passed his doorway, and shut his eyes tight. Some time went by, and when Yusaku was still unable to drift off, he decided to go investigate. He assured himself that it was merely paranoia, and that such actions surely wouldn’t be met with reprimanding notions – he would simply say he got up for a drink of water, if his motives were brought to question.

Just a quick glance around, calm his nerves, and then he would be able to sleep.

Turning the handle carefully, Yusaku waited a few moments before pulling the door in close to himself. The sharp whine of a creak gave way, and he stood there, completely frozen with his eyes clamped shut, as if not being able to see any potential threats meant willing them out of existence altogether. When even more quiet moments passed of nothing occurring, he concluded that it was safe to venture forth.

The house, while presenting this warm and welcoming aura during the day, had such an ominous feel to it at night. Yusaku couldn’t recall the last time he walked down the halls after dark, if he ever had. Perhaps once or twice, he and Aoi most likely stayed up late trying to finish a movie, but even then, the comfort of her presence was lost, and the halls felt strange and unfamiliar.

The light which had been creeping passed his door was much farther down than anticipated, and he found himself placing a hand against the wall while his eyes adjusted to the darkness. His footing started off a bit awkward – being unaccustomed as he was to sneaking around, it hadn’t initially occurred to him that a typical walk wouldn’t be prudent. Readjusting, Yusaku proceeded forward on his tip toes.

It was at this point it truly hit him that he had no idea just what exactly he was out to find. At best, he concluded, the robots simply doing chores in a different area, unusual but not impossible. And at worst, which he tried to pass it off as a morbid joke to calm his own nerves, bloodied bodies and stolen goods.

Something like that would have caused too much noise, he assured himself.

But the idea of not knowing was still enough to cause the knot in his stomach to tighten.

Still, he ventured forward, his eyes now adjusted, he quickly glanced around the living room, trying to debate on which furniture would be best suited to duck behind should things turn for the worst. He didn’t have a plan on how to alert Aoi if that were in fact the case, however. He shook his head, quickly sprinting from the wall to the couch.

A voice could be heard at that moment, one that normally caused an indifference to Yusaku, but at that exact time frame, sent a cold shiver down his spine and a sudden rush of breath from his lungs. Instinctively diving behind the arm of the couch, he listened in to where he heard Zaizen from the other room.

“…Just get rid of it!” He commanded. “Hide it somewhere tonight and we’ll dispose of it in the morning.”

A door opened and Yusaku found himself covering his mouth and nose, attempting to silence his breathing best he could. That noise he had been searching for the whole night, the light sound of their robots zipping smoothly by, happened at that time. The last thing Yusaku felt by them was comfort, that is, until they passed him without interruption.

It wasn’t until long after they had slipped by again, did Yusaku dare to get up from his hiding spot. The urge to creep back as quietly and stealthily as before was overrun by his urge to return to the safety of his bedroom quickly as possible. When he reached the doorway, however, his eyes caught sight of a shadow lingering down from the opposite end of the hallway. 

Glancing up, he noticed a closet, pushed deep into the back of the corridor, as if forgotten, had been left slightly ajar. It must have gone widely unused, considering he had never before acknowledged it, and that the robots underestimated just how much force was needed to properly close it.

A side of him, the rational side, said to simply go to bed, drift into sleep, and forget the oddities of the evening. However, nothing which had taken place caused a settling of his nerves, and even though every inch of him begged not to, he found himself tip-toeing in the direction of the forgotten closet.

His pace idled slightly as he passed Aoi’s door, slight envy at her apparent undisturbed sleep. Lost in thought, his footing slipped, and Yusaku found himself landing onto the hardwood flooring with a distinct clap.

Everything froze. He didn’t twitch, blink, breathe. His kneecaps were screaming, but his ears remained keen. Several moments passed and the only sound to be heard was the heaviness of his own heartbeat. When he finally felt that it was safe to, Yusaku stood and walked on, slightly limping with the pain.

The closet creaked as he opened it, but after just falling down, he felt a little more confident, and simply swung it open. There were no lights, so he had to feel his way around for… whatever it was Zaizen felt so important to hide. Mostly all he came across were old coats that smelled of mothballs and dust, causing his nose to tickle. As he brought in his arm over his mouth to sneeze, something clacked against Yusaku’s elbow.

Something hard and cold, definitely too thick to be a coat hanger. He reached in, and pulled out… a duel disk?

Yusaku held it up, trying his best to inspect it with his limited range of sight. It appeared to be an older, outdated model. He frowned.

Why would Zaizen be so keen as to throw this away secretively? His company specialized in dueling equipment – had this model been a rival business design? Perhaps, but he would assume plenty of customers would still own or have thrown out such models without discrepancy. Maybe his reputation was on the line again – he knew about Zaizen’s recent demotion, despite all his attempts to hide that fact.

Yusaku couldn’t identify exactly how he felt in that moment. He supposed he ought to feel relief, that all the fuss he had made was predominantly in his head, that it was all over something so little, blown out of proportion. But… truthfully, all he felt was disappointment. He couldn’t help but to think that there had to be more to this than just a potential rival business or tattered reputation.

Had it been the middle of the week and he had school in the morning, Yusaku would have taken the duel disk with him, hid it in his backpack and kept it somewhere private, out of the house while he investigated. But that wasn’t the case – he would be home all day tomorrow, as well as Zaizen and the robots.

He decided it would be best to keep a close eye on everything and wait to see what unfolded. That said, he placed the duel disk back where he had brushed against it, closing the closet door mostly but not quite all the way, and for the third time in that evening, tip-toed across the hall and back into his bedroom.

~

The very next morning, Yusaku awoke earlier than normal for breakfast, a detail that did not go unnoticed by Aoi.

“Oh, you’re already up!” She chirped, still tying in one of her pigtails. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.” He clicked his fingers against the table, attempting to hide his riding anxiety by resting his free hand against his cheek and gazing off blankly into the distance.

“What do you want for breakfast?”

“Whatever is fine.”

“What do you want to do after breakfast?”

“Anything is fine.”

Aoi nodded and put on a little smile, stepping over to the cupboards. 

There was the mild temptation to simply ask her of any information she may have on the subject. But truthfully, Yusaku wasn’t even sure of how to explain himself, let alone why he remained fascinated with something so utterly mundane. She would most likely just giggle at his strange curiosity, give him an explanation similar to the ones he had concocted the previous night, and then…

She would tell her brother.

Yusaku stopped clicking his fingers. The sudden lack of noise caused Aoi to spin her head around.

“Something wrong?”

He quickly shook his head. “No, I just… was trying to remember if there are any upcoming tests.”

Aoi nodded and turned to open the fridge. She made some off-comment about how he should check the planner she had bought for him more often. Yusaku wasn’t looking at her.

“Surprised Roboppy hasn’t gotten anything started yet. I suppose my brother has her busy with something else…”

“Mmm.” Yusaku was about to dismiss her observations, but then an idea ran through his head. “That is unusual. I’ll go check it out.”

She simply shrugged as she pulled out spices and pans. Yusaku left the table, trying not to run off as rushed as he truly wanted, and skirted around through the house, down the hallway, back to the closet he had encountered not even twenty-four hours ago.

It remained slightly ajar, and unattended to. In the glares of the morning sun, Yusaku could see the heavy layers of dust floating about. Roboppy hadn’t been by. He wasn’t sure if he should feel relieved by that or not. On the one hand, it meant the mysterious duel disk was still in there, but he wasn’t sure exactly how long he could stand there before Aoi got suspicious. 

His ears perked to the sound of wheels turning. He spun to see the tiny robot whir passed him.

“Good morning!”

He muttered some poor excuse of a greeting and let her on by, before picking up his feet and following behind her.

“Uhh…” he started. “Aoi was wondering why you weren’t in the kitchen.”

“Busy! Be there soon!”

“Busy with what?”

“Busy! New chore!”

Yusaku rolled his eyes, realizing that he wasn’t going to get any answers from the robot. And what’s more, that maybe he shouldn’t. If he suspected that word could get back to Zaizen through Aoi, someone who, as far as he was concerned, knew nothing, then it could certainly get back through Roboppy.

“Go sit! Be there soon!”

The command caught Yusaku off guard. It wasn’t the first time one of the robots had insisted upon action, but it only furthered Yusaku’s determination to find out why this was being kept secret.

He made his way back to the kitchen again, made up some excuse to Aoi about needing the bathroom, and waited until he heard Roboppy whir by. He kept a considerable distance between himself and the robot, finding it easier to sneak around both in the daylight and with other sounds happening in the background. 

He stopped when she went outside, however, content with just watching her from the window, keeping track of her movements. Passed the house, down the alleyway, where the dumpster awaited. Not exactly a “secret” disposal, but then again, Roboppy wasn’t the brightest of robots. 

“What are you doing?”

The voice made Yusaku jump, and he was unable to hide his surprise. He spun around, completely blank on how he was to explain himself.

“G-good morning, Zaizen.” He pressed his feet together and stood up straight, hands clutched behind his back. Yusaku’s gaze was brought up to his mouth – he could never bring himself to look him full on in the eyes.

“Shouldn’t you be with Aoi?”

“I… was wondering where Roboppy was. She normally fixes us breakfast.”

A moment of silence fell between the two, before an audible gulp came from Yusaku. But then Zaizen nodded.

“Yes, I had them run a small errand for me. Hardly a call for alarm – it smells like Aoi has something cooking, anyway.”

“Yeah…” Yusaku replied. 

“It’s good that I caught you alone, however.”

He looked up at that last statement. “Oh?”

“As you know, Aoi’s birthday is coming up. We’re going to go shopping for her within the week.”

Yusaku blinked. How could he have forgotten? He nodded vigorously, and Zaizen excused him to return to the kitchen, again scolding him for wandering off in the first place.

“I was just curious.” He murmured.

Zaizen stepped in much too close for his comfort, and he couldn’t resist the urge to pull back at least one of his feet.

“It might be best not to wonder too much.”

~

It was evening time before Yusaku found himself able to get out of the house long enough for an investigation. Aoi fortunately had other engagements, all the same, she seemed hesitant when Yusaku told her he had planned on going for a walk, and wanted to accompany him, or at the very least, allow one of the robots to chaperone. She finally let up when he said he’d have his phone on him, and promised to text her every few minutes.

The pants he happened to be wearing contained no pockets, so he brought along his school bag to carry around the phone. This ultimately worked for his benefit, because it meant a way for him to sneak back the duel disk without arousing questions.

Rummaging through a dumpster didn’t have much appeal to Yusaku, but he figured at this point, there was nothing to lose. It took a bit of time, and he knew he’d have to find a public restroom to wash himself up before returning home, but he eventually found it.

Wiping off the bits of rubbish, Yusaku held it up in the dimming sunlight, trying to see if he could spot the significance with the old model. Beyond a few dents and what was probably rust, it seemed completely ordinary. He attached it to his wrist, and tried activating it, but to no avail.

He sighed. He really didn’t want to think he had been made paranoid and spent an evening digging through trash all for nothing, but it was starting to appear that way. Disappointed, he still placed it within his bag, texted Aoi, found that restroom, and headed back.

~

Yusaku still found himself struggling to drift off into sleep. The robots were zipping by his door as usual, and returning home from his walk had presented no apparent issues. Aoi had been busy in her room, and didn’t even notice Yusaku rush to put the duel disk under his bed.

It was still there now.

Everything had gone along as best as Yusaku could have hoped… but he was at a loss of what to do now. He decided to just inspect the duel disk for the next week, and if nothing of interest still came up, then he’d throw it back out.

Easy.

So why was it he couldn’t relax enough to sleep?

Frustrated, Yusaku pulled the sheets down and got onto the floor. The duel disk was cold in his hands, causing him to shiver slightly at first. He once again tried to activate it, and once again, nothing happened.

Yusaku turned and pressed his back against the foot of his bed.

“I can’t explain why I have to figure you out.” He spoke quietly. “But then again, I can’t find a reason why Zaizen was so keen to get rid of you, either.”

A spark went off, shocking Yusaku both physically and emotionally. Pulling back his injured hand, he dropped the duel disk as it hissed and shook upon the ground. Just as Yusaku began to fear that the robots nearby would overhear, it stopped.

He froze, unsure of what to do next. Should he leave it there, not risk getting zapped again? Or should he go to hide it? And then the duel disk lit up. Not bright enough to reach out of the door’s cracks, but enough to cause Yusaku to squint as his eyes adjusted. When he looked down, however, he noticed the light was beginning to mold itself into an image. 

A familiar shape…

A boy.

The duel disk had produced the glowing image of a young boy.

Yusaku stood there, bewildered and unsure of how to react. Why would it be programed to keep information that wasn’t pertinent to dueling or cards? Was this the previous owner? Did they install a graphic of themselves in case it was lost or stolen? If that was it, then where did Zaizen fit into all of this?

Then something genuinely unexpected happened.

The image spoke.

“…Hello?”

Yusaku felt as if he should have been terrified, but instead, he simply felt… curious. With caution, he inched closer, got down on his knees and crawled.

The digital boy spoke again. His voice sounded high-pitched and distorted, like the robots, with a small pause between words, as if they were trying to be processed. “Hello? Can you hear me?”

“I… you… who are you?”

“Ryoken Kogami.” His tone didn’t influx at all, but rather, remained emotionless and constant.

Yusaku tilted his head, trying to understand the significance of the name, but nothing came to mind.

His eyes had adjusted to the haze created, and he was able to see the more prominent features on the digital boy. They looked to be around the same age, his mouth was slightly upturned in a tiny smile, although, it was difficult to fully tell with the image constantly glitching. If he really concentrated, Yusaku could swear he saw him blink.

“How… what exactly are you?”

The smile on his face grew, enough to not have been a trick of the light.

“I’m what they made me.”

Something clicked. Yusaku remembered Zaizen and a former partner of his discussing the development of AI duelists. He didn’t know much about it, but it remained a possibility. 

“Who’s they? Why did they create you?”

“SOL technologies.”

He gulped. Even with his calculations being correct, that didn’t settle his nerves. 

“Why?”

Ryoken, as he called himself, tilted his own head in a mimic of Yusaku’s actions. “Why are you so interested in learning about me?”

He found himself at a loss for words. This digital boy, this… AI, was most likely just as confused as he was over the current circumstances. And it really did set in just how insensitive he was probably coming off as. He hadn’t even bothered to introduce himself, let alone what the situation was, and instead bombarded the AI with evasive questions. Something Yusaku was very familiar with.

He owed him, at the very least, some explanations.

“Sorry.” He shifted a little and cleared his throat. 

“Don’t be.” Was the reply. “What is your name?”

“It’s Yusaku. This is my bedroom.”

“Yu-sa-ku…” Ryoken stretched out each syllable in an almost sing-song manner, his grin growing and shrinking prominently as he pronounced them. “Pleasure to meet you.”

It was Yusaku’s turn to smile a little. He tried to think of other things to say that didn’t result in a question, even though he had plenty he was overly eager to ask. He decided to talk to Ryoken the way he always wished Aoi would with him.

They went back and forth, discussing their interests, dueling, and school. Yusaku had learned that Ryoken didn’t know quite how long he had been in the disk, or when exactly he had come to be. 

All the while, he remained standing, staring directly at Yusaku, his grin never wavering. Yusaku began to count the amount of times he saw him blink. It wasn’t as often as he did, but it still happened around the same time, and he was concluded that it was Ryoken’s way of imitating to understand him. Then he lost the number after a while, however.

“Are there any more of you?”

“Not that I have found.” 

Yusaku nodded, then bit his lip, deciding to go forth and ask something more personal. “So… you have no one? No family? You’re alone?”

The expression Ryoken generated right then looked genuinely perplexed. “I am alone.”

Feeling a bit bolder, Yusaku continued. “You’re kind of like me. I mean, I have Zaizen and Aoi, but, I don’t really have a family.”

“What is a ‘family’?”

He felt a hand slap over his mouth at the realization of his own ignorance. Of course, an AI wouldn’t have a biological family. Yusaku scratched at the back of his head, trying to distract himself as he tried to convey an answer.

“Well it’s um, it’s usually when two people get married, and then have children. In Aoi’s case, it’s just her and her brother, but, humans aren’t really ‘created’ or ‘programmed’ like robots or anything, they’re born.” He snickered slightly, coming to terms with the probability that he would have to explain at least half of the terms he used. “Does any of this make sense?”

Ryoken nodded. “What’s it like to be human?”

Yusaku paused, shifting his position slightly. How would he even begin to answer a question like that?

“Well, I mean…” he stuttered, still trying to find the right words to use. “It’s all I’ve ever really known.”

“Mmm.” There was a higher note in that inflection, as if it were an anticipated affirmation. “Perhaps that was too vague. I can start off smaller.”

Yusaku chuckled a little, feeling very foolish and embarrassed of himself. “I’m so sorry! I’ve never had to explain myself like this!”

He fiddled around with his fingers, not really wanting to look over at Ryoken. He didn’t know how well the AI could form judgement, or if all of this was mere observation, but that didn’t decrease his humiliation all the same.

“You don’t have to apologize.” He said. “It must be hard to explain humanity. I’ll begin again – just who are you?”

“Oh…” was his reply. Maybe Ryoken had only been programmed to handle short-term memory. “I’m Yusaku Fujiki, I – “ 

“No.” The statement was so firm and definite, that Yusaku immediately shut his mouth, sat up straighter, as if a frustrated teacher had just scolded him for answering incorrectly. “That is only your name. Who. Are. You?”

His mind went completely blank.

After a moment of silent stupor, Yusaku tried to put the question into a context that would make it easier for him to solve. He decided to try and imagine if Aoi had asked him, what exactly she would mean by it. Knowing her, she would most likely be referring to what his after-graduation goals would be, what sort of career he would pursue, if he ever wanted to get married and start a family.

What was his impact on this world.

“I’m Yusaku Fujiki.” Ryoken tilted his head, but allowed him to continue this time. “I’m twelve years old. I live with my best friend and her brother. I go to school, and I’m a pretty decent student. I’m also pretty good at dueling – I don’t get a chance to do it much, but it’s easy to understand the basics.”

He paused, glancing over to Ryoken, wondering what his reaction was. To his mild concern, his face just looked on expectantly.

“And I…” he wracked his brain, trying to think of what it was exactly Ryoken was asking of him. 

Aoi had asked so many questions prior to all this, he felt it should have been obvious to answer who he was. But that was the thing – her questions never challenged him like this. They were monotone, part of the routine, simply checking in on everyday life. This was, something he had never even really considered.

And honestly, there was a part of him that deeply enjoyed that. Being able to figure out an inquiry like this, to give self-reflection when normally he swayed through the day.

Yusaku turned again to Ryoken. He had no idea if the AI truly realized exactly what he was doing to him, the internal conflict he had created, but maybe when Yusaku had become better at explaining things, he would be able to articulate.

“I… have no idea what I want from life.” He finally confessed, turning away at that moment, letting himself admit to these deeply rooted feelings. “Aoi brings up her dreams of being a top-notch duelist, what type of universities and such she wants to attend after graduating. But to be honest, I haven’t put much thought into my future plans. I just… sort of let things happen.”

Pausing, he waited for a response. When none came, he thought for a moment that perhaps he hadn’t given the answer Ryoken wanted. But looking back to him, Yusaku came to conclusion that the AI simply wanted him to continue.

So, he did. “I don’t really know what I’m meant to do with my life. I guess that means I don’t really know how to say who I am. I don’t know why I’m here.”

“You don’t know why you’re here?” The reply caught him off-guard, causing Yusaku to shutter slightly, surprised to hear him repeat his words.

He supposed that made sense, however. AIs were programmed with distinct purposes and functions – trying to explain that humans didn’t really work that way would be rather difficult to compute.

But in a strange way, Yusaku acknowledged how much fun he was having. How happy he was that he’d gone to that dumpster and retrieved the duel disk. That he could keep having conversations like this, keep challenging himself, and teaching Ryoken. 

His chest swelled at the thought.

The sunlight began to peak into the windows right as Yusaku’s alarm went off.

His stomach began to sink the weight of a full day of school lay ahead of him. It wouldn’t be long now before Roboppy and Aoi came to check on him. He went to speak, but paused, and coughed lightly, his throat was raw from spending the entire night conversing.

Briefly, Yusaku wondered if he had ever spoken that much in his life.

“Listen, uh…” he started, rubbing gently at his neck. “I still have a lot of questions, but right now I have to leave, and…”

“You need to hide me.”

He nodded. “I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t be. You need to. I need to remain a secret.”

There came a knock at his door. A rush of panic ran over Yusaku, calling out that he’d be just another minute, his voice cracking as he spewed the sentence. By the time he had turned back around, Ryoken was gone.

Sighing, Yusaku hastily shoved the duel disk into his school bag, wiped off the sweat of his brow, and headed out.

~

He made it about an hour into school before passing out. The nurse confirmed that he had no temperature, but all the same, Aoi took it upon herself to take him back home. She placed him on the couch, put a blanket over his shoulders, and Roboppy fixed him up a cup of tea.

“You’ve never gotten sick before.” Aoi scolded, pacing up and down the living room, her socks making a light squeak as she turned on her heels. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you take that walk! You were out far too late, it was cold, and now here you are!”

Yusaku looked down at his tea, watching the bag float along the edges, every little twitch of his hand causing ripples. He nodded when needed, assuring Aoi that he would do his best to keep from being so careless in the future.

“It’s the least you could promise me!” She insisted, getting close to his face, pointing at him, accusingly. “Honestly, Yusaku, you should know better!”

“Alright!” He said, using so much emphasis in his words that a touch of tea dribbled out of cup’s side and onto the floor.

Aoi backed up, her eyes going wide. “Yusaku…”

He shrank back, immediately regretting the tone used. He had never snapped at her before. Sure, she was being demanding, but had that warranted him becoming annoyed?

Still, even as he apologized, drinking his tea nervously, Yusaku couldn’t shake the feeling. Conversations like this came up every day. Not quite as unrelenting, but still, fairly commonplace. And he couldn’t help but find them…inferior.

Every nerve under his skin was aching to rush into his room and pull out his duel disk, but nothing about the circumstances agreed to that being a wise choice. It would be several hours now before Aoi went to bed, and in his current state, Yusaku knew he wasn’t going to be able to part from her sooner.

So instead he asked Aoi if he could rest. At this point, he genuinely needed it, since he wouldn’t be getting much again tonight.

~

“That girl seems to care about you quite a bit.” Ryoken observed. His image remained standing in the same idle way it had before, as well as his grin.

The AI had sent Yusaku in a near panic attack, glowing away inside his book bag, which had been meticulously placed in the corner by Aoi. Fortunately, however, she was much more preoccupied with him to take proper notice. After removing the wet wash cloth from his forehead and placing the comforter up to his chin, she insisted he go straight to sleep, regardless of his nap earlier, dozing off in school was unacceptable.

That had happened several hours ago, and Yusaku was sitting in the middle of his bed, covers thrown over his head to keep the light and his voice drowned down to as minimal as possible.

Yusaku shrugged. “She’s always been there for me. I’m grateful for it, but… I guess I just wished she trusted me enough to try things on my own.”

“Perhaps she thinks you cannot do it.”

“Oh?”

“She might think these basic actions are beyond your abilities. You should show her what you’re capable of.”

“Not sure how she would react to that. Honestly, I think it would be hard for her to let go of seeing our relationship like this.” Yusaku replied with a very mild and dry chuckle. “She means well.”

As much as he wished to sometimes be left to his own devices, Yusaku was grateful to Aoi. He needed her, all things considered. It was difficult making friends, and while Zaizen was a financial provider, Aoi was the one who checked in on him.

“But you are upset.” 

Yusaku found himself without a response. Was he upset? Perhaps him discussing Aoi had come off as complaining. He didn’t mind her caring for him, he just wanted to be a little more independent. Maybe that was the appeal of discovering the mystery behind Ryoken – it was the first time he felt like some aspect of his life was on his terms.

But that didn’t mean he resented Aoi for all she did. He didn’t resent Zaizen either, for that matter, he just didn’t know exactly how much faith he had in the guy. But they had given him a home.

“Oh, I…” Yusaku shrugged, which was a little tricky considering the blankets weighing down on his shoulders.

“Your tone has changed from the start of this conversation to now. When you thought it was alright to, you openly admitted your disdain towards your treatment. But now that morality is on the line, you have become defensive.”

“It really isn’t a question of morality – I don’t know where I’d be without them!”

“So why are you upset, then?”

“I’m not!”

One of the robots passed by the door, commenting on how noisy it had become. Yusaku slapped a hand over his mouth, squeezing his knees into his chest, trying to make himself as small as he could.

“You are upset now, but it’s at me.” Ryoken continued after a moment passed.

The jitters in Yusaku’s stomach were replaced by a heavy weight. He shouldn’t have snapped – what was wrong with him? These last few days had proven to be very trying indeed – but at the same time, extremely invigorating. All the emotions that had passed through him, the thrill of keeping a secret, truthfully this extroversion had been the most exciting time of his life.

Ryoken didn’t understand. It wasn’t his fault.

“I’m sorry.” Yusaku whispered. “I just… Aoi is my friend. I don’t want to think bad things about my friends.”

The glow from the duel disk began to fade in and out, the image of Ryoken glitched and became static. Yusaku rose up, the blanket over his head threatening to fall over, but he quickly bent down and leaned in closer. When the distortion ceased and the image became clear once more, Ryoken was now in a sitting position.

Yusaku let out a tiny giggle. “Oh… look at you!”

“I have been trying to do this all night.” Ryoken explained coolly. His smile remained, but it had relaxed a bit.

“Is it hard to move so significantly?”

“It takes a while for my programming to catch up and do as I want it to.”

“Ah,” Yusaku replied. “It’s probably due to the old materials you’re projecting out of.”

“Perhaps.”

“Do you have a memory board of some kind? A file? Maybe I could download you to something more efficient.”

“And why would you do that?”

The question caught him by surprise. Yusaku merely figured it was a kind gesture, something that would make Ryoken’s existence more bearable. It didn’t sound easy being trapped. All that processed in his mind faster than he could make the proposal – he hadn’t stopped to consider why.

“Because it would make your life better.” He explained.

“I am not alive.”

The statement hung in the air.

“Why do you want to help me?”

“I…” Yusaku stuttered. He struggled on how to explain this to someone who was not human. “It’s just an observation. You said so yourself, you were trying to simply sit all night long, and that your programming is slow. Therefore, faster, more improved equipment would allow you an easier way to move around. As for why, I see it as something nice to do for you. We’ve been getting along well these past few nights, so I would like to express gratitude.”

Ryoken tilted his head, slowly, and Yusaku wondered how long it had taken him to be able to process the movement. But then he nodded.

“That’s something humans do, isn’t it?”

“Um, yeah…” Yusaku continued. “It’s what friends do.”

“Friends?”

He fiddled with his fingers, trying to figure out how to explain. “Yeah, I mean, we have a lot in common, and I’ve enjoyed spending time with you. I hope that makes us friends.”

Yusaku found himself turning his gaze at that last statement. He didn’t know why the words had slipped out, and he found himself a little self-conscious by admitting them.

“And Aoi is your friend?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah! She does nice things for me, all the time, really! And pretty soon, I’m gonna be going with her brother to pick out a present for her birthday.”

“Birthday?”

A slight sinking feeling washed over him. That was another senseless comment of his. 

“Well, I’m not sure how well you’d get the concept…” he started, trying to keep his tone as gentle as possible. “But like I said last night, human beings are born. And every year, we celebrate the anniversary of the first day they came into this world. So, we buy them presents for that purpose.”

“And you do this to be nice to your friends, because it’s what you want to do?”

Yusaku genuinely wished the AI’s tone could fluctuate, just so he could gravitate to an emotion. He didn’t know if he was overestimating or underestimating Ryoken’s intelligence, and whether or not he was becoming annoyed and trying to make it clear by stating the obvious.

“Yes.” He finally answered, keeping his tone as soft as possible.

“I understand.” Was his answer. “That is what I was trying to do by pointing out your distress.”

Yusaku nodded, sinking his head into his knees. “I’m sorry, again…”

“You cannot move me.”

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t have a file that you can download onto anything else. Thank you for the offer.”

“Oh…” he poked his head out from under the covers, cool air breezing along his face, and checked the time. “Well either way, Aoi will get upset if I fall asleep during class. We should call it a night.”

“When is the next time you will talk to me?”

“Probably tomorrow night.” He turned to look closely at Ryoken, half-expecting to see his grin fade. But it remained constant. Yusaku started to wonder if there was something even more faulty with the equipment, that he was stuck that way. “I’m sorry it means you’ll have to be in the duel disk all day…”

“I’ll be fine.”

Yusaku smiled weakly, then went to move the duel disk into his backpack. He took one last time to gaze over the tiny image of the young boy in front of him.

“I’m glad you consider me a friend.”

~

Despite him having a significant larger amount of sleep than the night prior, the sound of his alarm in the early morning remained unwelcomed. Nevertheless, Yusaku pulled himself out from the sheets and trudged over to his dresser, which happened to be next to the window.

Normally, Yusaku would have flipped on the light switch before walking across the room, but this morning, the sun was so bright, he could make out the basic make up of his furniture. So instead, he just threw the curtains back. The sudden harshness caused his eyes to water up a little, be he adjusted quickly.

He drew his attention down the street, around the corner, to where the dumpster he had retrieved Ryoken from stood. It was a strange thought that it had been two days, and he hadn’t been caught. A fact he would like to remain true.

Yusaku’s eyes wandered around, tracing back where he had spied on Roboppy sneaking off to. It may have been a slight risk leaving on the same day, but it ultimately worked to his advantage, since he couldn’t remember the name of the street she had turned on. It was right next to… next to… what was it, a café or a grocer?

He moved his gaze down and saw that the building on his mind was, in fact, a bank. Strange. He could have sworn there was some sort of fruit or milkshake stand nearby? Yusaku let his eyes wander. As far as he could tell, the next refreshment place was at least another block away. Why had he thought it was so close?

Come to think of it… what exactly was along the block across this house?

Yusaku started counting off the shops, houses, another bank, and a few apartment complexes. Eventually his eyes landed one where his school stood. Funny how he never noticed that he could spot it from his bedroom. It had always been him and Aoi, taking the light rail or some bus to and back. Whenever they left for the weekend, which was rare to begin with, it was to another city. Not much to do in the suburbs, Zaizen had always explained, a phrase Aoi seemed to agree with.

He hadn’t really minded, but now that it was apparent, Yusaku couldn’t get the idea out of his head of just how little he actually knew about this town.

A knock on his door followed by a loud scolding informed him he was taking too long for Aoi’s tastes. Shaking his head, Yusaku turned back to his dresser to start the day.

~

“I mean, it’s not like we have anything too stressful going on this month! This all started to happen after that walk! You must have caught something! I knew I should have gone with you, I knew it!”

Aoi leaned her elbow up along the window of the light rail, watching the buildings whir by, as opposed to looking at Yusaku, while she spoke. Not that he was really paying attention – he just kept huddled up in the seat, backpack in his lap, feeling around the edges for the duel disk on the inside.

He remembered Ryoken’s words about how he was upset and didn’t want to admit it. The thought caused him to turn his head up and glance at the girl he had known for the majority of his life. She was his friend, his best friend. At least, that’s what he had always assumed. Why else would she have offered so much of her own time and resources to him?

Last night, Yusaku had made a simple offer to Ryoken, trying to improve his life, with no other motived beyond it seemed like a nice thing to do. The AI couldn’t even understand that much. But then it made him wonder, just what were Aoi’s motivations in all this?

Did all her scolding really come from a place of caring? Who was in the wrong? Ryoken, an AI without much understanding? Aoi, for being overprotective? Or Yusaku, who started lying and hiding things from his friends, to the point where Yusaku felt the need to keep the purpose of a simple walk a secret?

That was the way things always were.

But things were different now. There was someone who was relying on Yusaku for answers, and survival, in a way. Even though an AI, Ryoken would have been dumped and damaged beyond repair had Yusaku not come around. It was a responsibility he’d never had before, and there were things he desperately needed to know.

“Actually…” He started, so sheepishly, he had to repeat himself louder, to prevent being drowned out by the tracks. Aoi sat down to face him. “I was thinking… maybe I could… go to the library later this evening.”

His eyes shut on impulse, but he could imagine the look her face had at that moment. From her tiny pupils to the slight quiver of her open bottom lip, Yusaku took in a deep breath as he prepared himself.

“Absolutely not! After yesterday? And even this morning? It’s too much!” She huffed, smoothing the front of her uniform and crossing her legs.

Well that hadn’t gone down quite as painful as Yusaku had anticipated. The hard part was over. He gathered the nerve to persist.

“I think it’s time I started doing things on my own. And not… always have to be dependent on you.”

The wrinkles caused by her frowning relaxed, a hand shot up to her mouth and her eyes became wide with concern as opposed to irritation. 

“Is that how you feel?” She leaned in and placed her hand to his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. “Yusaku… I’m just worried. I’ve always been worried.”

He tilted his head. “Why?”

“Just…” she pulled herself away and gazed down at her shoes. “After everything, I want to make sure you’re ok, you know? I didn’t realize what I was doing made you uncomfortable.”

Yusaku smiled. He lightly gripped her hand, which she held back. “It’s alright.”

Aoi sighed, then pressed herself into Yusaku’s shoulder, resting against him, as if a large weight had been lifted from her.

“I worry… so much…” she whispered, Yusaku unsure if she directed the comment towards him or not.

Her arm came close to bumping into his backpack, and he pulled it away, almost causing her to lose balance. Aoi’s surprised gaze met his.

Yusaku murmured some form of an apology. “So… you’re alright with me going to the library on my own?”

She picked herself up, fixing her pigtails. “Well, no, not really, to be honest. I can’t see why you would need to?”

He was careful not to move his head too much as his eyes traveled over to his backpack. All of his focus and attention had been merely on the suggestion – Yusaku didn’t actually have a plan for this next part.

Then he recalled this morning. “I want to do some research about the town.”

That wasn’t a total lie. At least he could be honest about this. 

“Why?” Aoi asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“Just – going for that walk, it made me realize how little I actually know about where we live.”

She folded her arms across her chest. “I’ve been around here plenty long enough. So has my brother. You can ask us.”

“Alright…” he challenged, a playful smirk forming. “When was the library established?”

Aoi’s face lit up with bewilderment, and she had to look down at her hands while biting her lip, collecting herself before turning to Yusaku. Upon seeing his grin, she burst into laughter. It was a loud, echoing laugh that had a contagious effect; even Yusaku found himself snickering a little. A few adults around them gave disapproving glances, but she hardly noticed. Wiping away at a small tear, she teasingly smacked at Yusaku’s forearm. 

“Alright, fine!”

He blinked in disbelief, the weight of the situation finally sinking in. She… said yes? He was actually allowed to go? He sighed deeply in relief. As bad as he felt about lying to her, at least he would be able to help out Ryoken.

“My, my, Yusaku, you sure are growing up, aren’t you?” She continued.

He was far too elated to mind the mocking undertone in her voice.

But then she said something which reversed all of that. Something that had him second guessing for the entire day on whether or not to go through with his plans. Something that chilled him to the bone.

“I should let Zaizen know.”

~

He clutched his backpack close and felt around it for the duel disk. Despite his fears, Yusaku went through with going to visit the library. Aoi was still a little hesitant, but she was in good spirits when they parted.

He waved politely at the librarian in her desk, took a quick note that the building was mostly empty, then made his way over to a computer in the back. Unsure of what exactly he was looking for, Yusaku decided to go with the most basic of information.

Turning to a search engine, he went ahead and typed in “Ryoken Kogami”

THIS PAGE HAS BEEN BLOCKED DUE TO INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT

Yusaku frowned. What was so inappropriate about a name? He couldn’t imagine it belonged to a large amount of people. He played with the idea that maybe SOL technology intentionally gave the AI the name of a porn star or something to that effect for the purpose of keeping people from being able to effectively research it.

True, he didn’t think he’d be able to get clear, concrete answers by using a public search engine, but he also didn’t know where else to look. It wasn’t like he could use the computer at home. 

Then he got an idea. Pulling out his phone, he went to connect to the library’s wi-fi services, and pulled up the same search engine and typed in “Ryoken Kogami”.

CANNOT LOAD PAGE DUE TO UNKNOWN ERROR

That was odd. At this point, Yusaku was getting pretty frustrated. He turned the wi-fi on and off a couple of times, and when that proved futile, he even went to use a bit of data. No effect. Just to double check the connection, he typed in a few random duel monster card names, and the search engine instantly pulled up multiple results. Once more, he typed in Ryoken Kogami, only for the same error to pop up again. 

Letting out a tiny groan, he put his phone back in his bag and returned to the computer. Unwilling to let this setback be the end, he then typed in “SOL Technology”.

Up popped a handful of links, including the company website, mostly depicting what they did, their founder, their current employers, a few reviews on their services… in other words, not what Yusaku wanted to know.

“SOL technology AI”

A handful of links – again, including the official website – describing the basic and future plans on developing AI duelists. It was interesting and Yusaku actually went through a few pages, but after a while it became clear that these were leading him nowhere.

He sighed, printed a few pages regarding local markets to show Aoi, and went to call it a night.

Just as he was about to log out of the computer, however, the screen began to flicker. Static ran through the keyboard, shocking Yusaku as he attempted to type. Pulling his hands away, he watched as the glitching began to fade, then an image began to form.

It was black and white, and extremely blurry, but the quality faded in and out, allowing Yusaku to conclude what was displayed in front of him. It appeared to be a small room, large enough for a table in the center, and a shelf of equipment to the side. The angle of the camera was in the upper corner.

On the table lay a figure – a very small one. A child?

A few more flickers, and then another, taller figure entered the picture. The person lying down was definitely a child. The larger figure – the presumed adult – went over to the shelf and pulled a few items from it. 

Yusaku leaned in close and squinted, trying to make out more than their basic shapes, but was unsuccessful. The only thing he was able to conclude was that this had to be an operating room of sorts. What exactly the operation was, however, had yet to be determined.

He was able to make out that the adult had lowered down something from the ceiling, something which had been concealed by the angle of the camera. It seemed to be some sort of helmet, connected by wires. Yusaku watched as the adult placed it onto the child’s head, then began clicking away at the buttons, before jotting down some notes.

What was this?

He jumped back in his seat when the screen suddenly glared a menacing shade of red, along with a thundering alarm. The few inhabitants of the library shrieked and slapped their hands over their ears as they rushed to the exits.

Yusaku remained glued to the chair, hands clutching onto the sides to the point of his knuckles becoming white. The constant flashing was giving him a mild headache, but he couldn’t look away.

The images of the operating room faded between the red flashes, first becoming a solid black. But with each blink, a grey form was slowly taking shape. It appeared to be an oval, and it was growing more and more, until it almost filled the screen. Two black spots formed in the upper middle, opening and closing, staring at him. 

Then a third black spot split across in a wide, wild grin.

Yusaku screamed.

~

There was a heavy weight on his chest, almost like someone was pressing down on it. He coughed, trying desperately to breathe. His eyelids were frantic to open, but they remained shut. Squirming, gasping, he wanted to cry out, but his mouth wouldn’t let him.

And then, all went calm. The only thing which existed was white and calm, calm silence. The heaviness on his chest lightened, and he inhaled easily, as everything became brighter, and brighter still, blinding.

Yusaku was lying in his bed, sheets soaked in sweat. His school uniform lay across his desk, and he looked down to see himself wearing pajamas. He leaned in and hugged his knees, pulling the comforter close and relaxing into its softness.

Then, right as he had caught his breath, Yusaku bolted up in a panic. His backpack – where was his backpack? Oh god, please let no one have gone through…

“Hello.”

Yusaku jolted at the sound of the voice. He turned to see someone standing in the corner across from him, leaning against his dresser. A woman he didn’t recognize.

“Who are you?” He demanded more than asked, eyes still frantically looking around the room.

She gave out a small chuckle. “Relax, kid, I just got here.”

He didn’t look up at her, didn’t even really care that she hadn’t answered him, but instead leaned over and peered down under his bed.

“Looking for this?”

Yusaku turned up to see her holding his backpack by the strap. He scrambled over, and she offered up no resistance as he snatched it. Feeling around, he could confirm that his duel disk remained inside.

He sighed in great relief.

Realizing the hasty nature of his actions, he paused, and murmured a slight thank you, and how he had very important research documents he needed in there.

“I’m sure.” She replied quietly. “It’s Ema, by the way. My name.”

Yusaku nodded, climbing back onto his bed and wishing that she would leave so he could go ahead and check on Ryoken. He wanted to make sure nothing had happened to his circuits after… after…

Images of the previous events flooded in Yusaku’s mind. The library, the lack of access, the flashing, the operating room, the face…

He turned. He couldn’t rationalize it, but he had a gut feeling that this Ema person knew something he didn’t.

“What…happened?”

She pushed herself off of the dresser and sauntered over to where he sat. Ema leaned down to get to his eye level.

“Something happened down at the library…” she whispered, as if she were telling some giant secret. Yusaku simply huffed at her stating the obvious. Smiling, she continued. “It was all over the news. The alarms going off, the systems going haywire and shutting down. Apparently, someone was trying to breach confidential information.” She chuckled again. “Only a real amateur would think they could access something top secret from a public domain!”

Yusaku frowned, unsure if it was because she wasn’t getting to the point, or if because she had mildly insulted him. However, she did have a point, and he knew he had been foolish to attempt looking all this up the way he did. But SOL wasn’t exactly open to the public the same way the library was.

He’d either have to figure out how to do some serious hacking, and in a very quick manner, or find a way to get directly to the source.

“But still,” Ema proceeded, interrupting his thoughts. “Somehow, some very private files leaked through. A real amateur couldn’t have done that. So, how did it happen?”

He shivered, thinking back to what he had seen. His grip on the backpack tightened, as did the knot in his stomach as he silently begged for this woman to get out of his room.

“Yusaku,” she said, grabbing his attention immediately. “How did that happen?”

His lip quivered slightly, genuinely unsure of how to answer her. Nothing he could say would satisfy her, anyway. He had no idea how that video had played through, and it was clear that she suspected him.

“I…” he started, trying and failing to think of an adequate remark. In the end, he decided it was best to just play ignorant. “I don’t know. I was looking up papers about the town when it happened. Everyone else ran out after the alarm, but I guess I…”

“Fainted.” She finished. Her head tilted as her eyes wandered over him, studying him. Yusaku tried to remain perfectly still, as if the slightest bit of movement alone would reveal the entire situation out in the open. 

Finally, she closed her eyes and picked herself back up, holding out a hand. “May I see inside your backpack, please?”

Instincts acting before he could even question them, Yusaku flung his arms around it and hugged it into his chest.

“Why do you need to?”

The smile on her face had faded, but he noted the slight shimmer in her eyes. “You said you were researching the town, and that you had important documents in there. If that’s true, then you should have no problem handing it over.”

“Well of course not…” he started, his grip relaxing slightly. “That doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with a complete stranger looking into my things. Or being in my room, for that matter!”

He had hoped the last comment would sting, even a little, but Ema only smirked.

“Feisty little thing, aren’t you?” She teased, much to his annoyance. Her hand lowered. “But alright, I’ll give you an explanation. Your foster brother here, Zaizen?”

“He’s not my foster brother…”

“Well, he’s your caretaker, at any rate, hm? Anyway, I work with him. With SOL technology in general, but Zaizen especially is a common client of mine. Files like the ones that were revealed in the library, as I said, are not things an ordinary person could access. Only the most advance of hackers would be able to get their hands on it.”

Yusaku looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. “You’re a hacker?”

She nodded. “SOL has certain things they don’t want out to the public. To prevent rival companies from duplicating, you see.”

He responded positively to her explanation, but he knew it was a lie. Still, he allowed her to go on.

“So, when such sensitive material is in jeopardy, Zaizen calls on me to investigate. Now, I’m sure you really were just at the library doing research for school, a young boy like you and all. But on the off chance, I need to go through everyone who was seen on the computers by the security cameras, and be able to eliminate them as a suspect.”

He slouched in the bed, realization that there was no getting out of this. She worked with Zaizen – if he didn’t comply, she would go inform him. There was a good chance she had already gone ahead and looked into his backpack, yet stayed behind to act like she had consent to search. 

But even if he did…

“Why don’t I reach in and show you everything in my backpack?” He offered.

Ema shook her head. “I’m sorry, little man. I have to be able to say I checked.”

Gingerly, he picked it up by the strap, and handed it over. Never before in his life, had Yusaku prayed.

She opened the latch and peered in, shifting through the papers he had been so grateful he printed. But then she passed them, and to his abject horror, pulled out the duel disk.

Rotating it, she gave it a light inspection, then turned to him, smile on. “Isn’t this a little old too still be dueling with?”

He let out a deep breath, then tried not to look too relieved. “Yeah… I was hoping to pawn it off, to save for a newer one…”

“Mm-hmm…” she replied, placing it once more into the backpack and handing it over.

Yusaku had to fight every cell in his body not to yank it from her.

“Well, everything seems perfectly ordinary to me.” She patted her hands together, as if wiping off dust from her palms. “Thank you, Yusaku.”

He nodded, not bothering to look up at her face, but rather her feet, and he felt his nerves settle as they finally turned towards the door.

“Oh,” she added, spinning back to look at him one last time before exiting. “For future reference, though, you might want to learn to delete your browser history.”

With that, she shut the door behind her, leaving Yusaku shivering and in a mild panic. The backpack in his hands began to glow, and he quickly reached in and pulled out the duel disk. Ryoken was already fully loaded.

“Ryoken, I – “

“Run.”

~


	2. Chapter 2

His lungs were burning and his legs were on the verge of cramping, but he couldn’t bring himself to trust the light rail or buses. Scheduled routes could be tracked, and at least on foot, he could duck behind corners and alleyways. 

He still didn’t have a firm grasp on the layout of the town, but fortunately that meant anyone looking for him wouldn’t have a direct link to his whereabouts.

“Run where?” He had asked.

“SOL technology.”

“I can’t get in without a passcode…”

“I’ll take care of that.”

Yusaku clung the backpack close to his chest – he didn’t want to risk exposing the duel disk to the elements, particularly if he dropped it, and he couldn’t bring himself to fling it over his shoulder, on the off chance someone came up and stole it from behind.

He could still hear them calling out his name. Could still hear the sound of a motorcycle nearby.

Aoi had been right outside the door right before he left, her hand up as she had attempted to grip the knob, when Yusaku had pushed right passed her. He turned back for a second, to make sure she was alright, but then both robots stood in his way – shoving through them had mildly injured his shoulder, but he made it. Zaizen was after that, but Yusaku didn’t mind getting more aggressive with him.

Outside, that Ema person was waiting, but he ran into a place too narrow for her motorcycle to fit into. And now here he was, several blocks from home, exhausted and still wearing his pajamas. 

In his current state, he almost didn’t notice the glow coming from his backpack. Yusaku ran between the back of a building and some bushes, before pulling out the duel disk. He was too out of breath to ask what the issue was.

“You’re going the wrong way.” Ryoken answered. “SOL is west.”

“I don’t… I don’t know how to get there!” He wheezed.

“I’ll help you.”

The image of the young boy disappeared, replaced by a navigation system, a red dot indicating the present location, and a green arrow pointing to the destination. Looking at the calculations, it became clear that SOL technologies was more than halfway across town.

Still crouching, Yusaku tried regulate his breathing before moving on. He sputtered, hacking up violently into his hand. His body was catching up to the fact that not only was he unused to this amount of physical excursion, but that he had been temporarily comatose not too long ago.

He attempted to get up, but pain shot along the side of his leg, and he immediately collapsed. The duel disk dropped from his hand and skidded across the sidewalk. Yusaku stared up in dread as he watched the glowing image glitch and fade.

To his relief, the map simply morphed back into Ryoken, who he took note was now standing with a hand on his hip, as if impatient.

“Can you not move?”

Coughing once more, Yusaku shook his head.

“Neither can I.”

The words made him wince. His leg hurt badly, and he had to bite down his jaw to keep from crying out. His arms shook as he lifted himself up, his focus remained hard on the ground, terrified at the idea of falling back down.

Then at that very moment, a loud crack of thunder rolled on, and not long after that, a heavy downpour. Yusaku could do little more than groan in frustration, but he trudged on, the slick asphalt constantly threatening to trip him up.

At the very least, he felt the cramping in his leg starting to subside, and that made crawling along more bearable. But his clothes were soaked, and that dragged him. A spark ejected from the duel disk, Ryoken’s image disappearing, and Yusaku quickened his pace to the best of his abilities.

He grabbed it, pulled himself up, slipped over his wet pant leg, resulting in his knee being scraped. A shriek escaped from his lips, but he hurried along to take shelter under the roof of the building he had been hiding behind.

Feeling out around the wall, trying to maintain balance, Yusaku wiped the water from his eyes. Once his vision cleared, he realized something he hadn’t before. The building’s back door had a dog flap at the bottom. Without hesitation, Yusaku went ahead and wriggled inside.

It was a thrift store of sorts, with plenty of clothes hanging up along the walls. Despite his pain and fatigue, Yusaku didn’t hesitate to grab a nearby sweater and dry off the duel disk, before finding something for himself to change in.

Once dried, he settled behind the front desk, and allowed himself to rest.

“Ryoken,” he started. “Why does Zaizen want you gone?”

He had originally intended to lead up to the question slowly, but with the current circumstances being what they were, he decided it was now or never.

“I was a failed experiment.” Ryoken answered.

Yusaku looked down at the duel disk.

“Failed?”

“I was not what they wanted. I don’t know how else to say it. Ask me another question.”

“Ok…” Yusaku sighed. “Why do we have to go to SOL Technologies?”

“There’s something there I need to show you.”

Something didn’t settle right about the statement to Yusaku. He looked down at this little image, this AI he had come to talk with the last few days. The amount of stress both physically and mentally he’d endured for his sake.

“Ryoken.” He said at last. “Were you the one who hacked into the library system?”

“Yes.”

His tone was constant and unmoving, but there was something about the speed with which he was willing to answer. As if he had waited all night just for Yusaku to ask him that very question.

“I thought you said you were stuck in that duel disk.”

“I never said that. I said you could not move me. That wasn’t a lie.”

It briefly crossed Yusaku’s mind that this AI didn’t understand the concept of compassion or friendship, but he knew the difference between the truth and a lie. However, maybe the first two were more subjective ideas.

“I can attach myself to things that are familiar to myself. A computer, for example.” Ryoken went on to explain.

“I see. So that’s how you plan to get us into SOL.”

“Exactly.”

Yusaku felt his eyelids go heavy. Sleeping with his back pressed against the side of a desk didn’t sound ideal, but at least he felt safe. His vision blurred, as the glow from the duel disk remained the only light he could see.

“Yusaku.” Ryoken’s voice raised up and down, in that same sing-song manner. He wondered why his tone only changed when saying his name. “Do you still consider me your friend?”

“Of course I do, Ryoken.”

“Do you still think Aoi is your friend?”

Aoi. What was her involvement in all this? Was it fair to assume she had an equal share only because of her brother?

“I don’t know…” Yusaku desperately wished Ryoken would stop asking him questions. He just wanted to sleep.

“Will you still get her a birthday present?”

That had to be the absolute last thing on his mind. It was such a trivial matter, especially with all that was going on. Maybe the AI didn’t grasp the severity of their situation. In all truthfulness, neither did Yusaku.

He wished he knew what was going on.

He wished he could sleep.

He wished…

Ryoken asked him something else, but Yusaku only caught the sound of his own name, before his eyelids shut and he completely passed out.

~

There was a ding from the door opening, followed by the shouting of an angry storeowner. Yusaku was quick to his feet and rushed out, duel disk under his arm, abandoning his backpack.

His exhaustion had hardly worn off, and that caught up to him all too soon after the adrenaline settled down. But he had to make it across town. He had to get to SOL Technology, and figure out this bizarre mystery once and for all.

Strapping the duel disk to his wrist for safe keeping, he trudged forward.

A busy intersection forced Yusaku to halt, and he took the moments to peer around at his surroundings. The news tower played the morning bulletins, and he was shocked to see his own picture displayed on the giant screen.

Reporters were addressing him as a missing child. Yusaku could hear people whispering, and he sensed their eyes on him. As soon as the traffic light allowed it, he bolted across the street. The shirt he had stolen came with a hoodie, so he threw it over his head.

He tried to rationalize – if Zaizen had filed a report, he was most likely still discussing details with the police, or maybe even the newscast. Aoi would certainly be with him. Ema on the other hand, was probably still out on the prowl. And it would be much easier to spot Yusaku during the day.

Deciding that he wasn’t physically able to run after such an excursion the night previous, and based around his theories, Yusaku concluded it would ultimately be safer to simply get on a bus. Heading to the back, Yusaku finally allowed himself to catch his breath. 

He reached over and clutched the duel disk with his free hand. So, here they were, on their way to SOL. In order to help his AI friend. To prove whatever point all this lead to. 

What happened after this?

Zaizen clearly wanted to find him, but, Yusaku doubted his actions would warrant a simple slap on the wrist. Would they kick him out? He had nowhere else to go, nor had he ever been on his own before. 

And what would become of Ryoken? Would they really destroy him, just throw him out?

Or what if Yusaku managed to get away with all of this? If this was truly so serious, would it be up to him to expose SOL? Would anyone really believe a kid? Would it be him and Ryoken running for the rest of his life?

None of the following options sounded tempting, but he was seeing this through until the end.

He couldn’t let Ryoken get hurt.

His eyes began to close, from complete and utter fatigue, from pure terror, both of what had happened, and what was to come. And then for no reason he could come up with at the time, Yusaku felt tears roll down his cheeks.

“Yusaku…” the sing-song voice came from his duel disk. He looked down at it, quickly wiping at his eyes. “What are you doing?”

He cleared his throat, then began to whisper. “This may not be the best place to talk, Ryoken…”

“This may be the only place to talk.” Yusaku cautiously peered around, ensuring that no one was looking at him, before shifting off to the corner. “What were you doing?”

“It’s called crying.” He shifted his knees up and placed the duel disk up to his lips as he continued. “It’s something humans do when they’re upset.”

“What are you upset about?”

“Well… I’m scared. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“Don’t worry, Yusaku.” Still, Ryoken’s tone only changed when saying his name. “This will all be over soon.”

~

The two managed to get in through backway entries, and Ryoken was able to hack into the systems, turning off alarms. It was still up to Yusaku to duck corners from employees, following the directions projecting from the duel disk. Displayed on top was a basic map of the building, but the courses lead somewhere below all that.

“Where are we going?” He had asked before arrival.

“Downstairs.” Was the only response.

Yusaku was about to turn the corner when he suddenly heard a familiar voice, and dropped back. Zaizen was in the room down the hallway, yelling at someone. Yusaku froze, clutching onto the duel disk. As quietly as he could, he dove behind a watercooler and hoped no one came around from the other side. It wasn’t a very good hiding spot, but it did make him feel a little more secure.

He heard a door open, and listened as a few footsteps made their way down the corridor. He let out a sigh of relief once he realized they weren’t heading his way.

“Yusaku…”

“Shh,” he whispered. “Just wait another moment, please.”

“Yusaku, what day is it?”

He turned down to look at the duel disk, and frowned. What difference did that make? It’s not like he had any clue, all things considered.

Peaking around the watercooler, he finally got up and continued on.

“Yusaku!”

Before he had a chance to fully react, he was already captured in the embrace coming from behind him.

“Aoi…” he managed to say.

She had her face pressed into his back, and her hands clutched tighter to his jacket. He could hear her sniffling. Despite his frontal instincts telling him to be terrified, to run, he had been caught, Yusaku found that he couldn’t bring himself to move.

She was so warm…

After a moment, however, he did manage to spin himself around to face her; eyes red and blotchy, cheeks puffed up, she smiled at him.

“I’m so glad you’re alright…” she whispered. Her hands were on his shoulders, still clinging tightly.

“Aoi, I…”

“Yusaku, I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to come home right away!” She stammered, her whole body shaking. Then, she added much quieter, “please.”

Never before had he seen her act this way. Normally she was the stronger of the two. It hurt him, on some deep level he couldn’t quite describe. Against his better judgement, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in close. She pressed her face into his neck and he felt her tears trickle down. She continued to shiver and sob, but he just held on tighter.

Everything around them seemed to melt away. Even if he was the one holding her, he felt a sense of relief wash over him. There was something so primal to this. To just holding her, comforting her, no words spoken between the two. He couldn’t remember the last time this had happened, if it ever had. 

Just a warm, loving embrace.

This… was all he ever wanted.

“Happy birthday, Aoi.”

They both shook at the sound of the voice. She pushed herself away from him, staring in disbelief at his wrist. He too stared, bewildered that Ryoken would reveal himself so openly.

“Happy birthday, Aoi.” He repeated. “Did I get the date right? Yusaku didn’t know.”

Her eyes enlarged with horror, both hands reaching up to cover her mouth, arms shaking as the rest of her froze. Then, her gaze went from the duel disk, to his face.

“Oh, Yusaku, what have you done?”

“Aoi!” Zaizen and Ema stood at the end of the hallway, and at the sight of them, Yusaku bolted in the opposite direction.

He could hear Aoi screaming out for him, his name echoing as he ran.

How could Ryoken have been so naïve? Didn’t he realize that in order to do all this, they couldn’t get caught? Maybe he just thought it was a friendly gesture, something he ought to do, with a logic that didn’t completely make sense to him.

But then, Aoi’s reaction…

He didn’t have time to stop and process it all. For now, he carried on, through elevators, into hallways and doors which Ryoken would open for him. Until they both ended up in a dark corridor, caked with dust and cobwebs. Yusaku had to cough into his sleeve for a moment, and if it weren’t for the light of the duel disk, he wouldn’t have been able to see at all.

“Here.” Ryoken informed him as they approached a door.

Unlike the ones upstairs, this one didn’t have a fancy, state-of-the-art padlock. It was a simple knob. It didn’t even need to be unlocked.

Yusaku couldn’t help but think back to when he had first found the duel disk, inside a closet that had been forgotten and pushed to the side. He held his breath as a heavy mist of dust unleashed upon opening the door.

The room itself wasn’t very big; Yusaku was only able to take a few steps before bumping into a table. He gingerly placed the duel disk in the center, letting it illuminate the surroundings.

After that, it didn’t take him long to recognize it.

“The operating room…” he whispered.

“Yes.” Ryoken spoke up. The image of the map disappeared, replaced by the young boy once more. “This is where it all happened. The secret that SOL wants buried.”

Yusaku circled around, running his hands over the tools, until he came across the strange helmet he had seen from the video. 

“Is this where you were built?” 

“Built?” Ryoken repeated. His tone pitched just slightly, in a way that came off as surprised. Yusaku wondered how long he had been able to do that. “This is where I was broken down.”

“Why would they need to break down an AI?”

Everything went silent. Yusaku didn’t know that silence could hold a weight to it, but the room felt so heavy.

And then Ryoken spoke.

“I am not an AI.”

A strong sense of fear spiked along Yusaku’s spine. He tried to tell himself that he must not have heard correctly – but how could he possibly have been mistaken?

“W-what did you say?”

Ryoken tilted his head, and smiled. In the back of his mind, Yusaku remembered him saying how long it took for him to do such simple actions, and he wondered if Ryoken knew that this question was going to come up.

“What day is it, Yusaku?”

“Why do you keep asking me that?”

“It’s Aoi’s birthday, right? You said that it was coming up. You forgot to get her something. You were planning on getting her something, right?”

Yusaku felt his fear turning to anger. Hot, unbridled anger. What in the world was going on? What was he playing at?

“Why does any of that matter?” He demanded.

“When is your birthday, Yusaku?”

He was about to yell once more for the relevancy of the question, until it struck Yusaku that he couldn’t remember the answer. He paused, placing a hand to his head, trying to take a quick second to recall.

“What’s wrong, Yusaku?” Ryoken chirped. “Don’t you know your own birthday?”

“I…”

“Fine. Here’s another one.” Yusaku had never heard so much inflection come from Ryoken’s tone. Had he known to save all that energy for today? “How long have you lived with the Zaizens? When did you move in with them? What was life like before that? Can you remember being eleven? Being ten? Being five?”

Yusaku pressed his palms into his ears, trying desperately to block out his voice, but it was impossible. Yet, he still found himself trying to recall… these memories… ones he was sure he had, but just, could not think of. Why couldn’t he remember?

“Yusaku…” it was that same sing-song tone, but much lower, something he found incredibly menacing. “I am not the AI. You are.”

His stomach churned, and he felt his knees go weak. His head wouldn’t stop spinning, and he had to move his hands from his head to the table just to keep standing.

“You’re… you’re lying.” He said, not turning up to look at him. “This is some kind of trick! I’m human! I’m human!”

He had to be. All the emotions and thoughts running through his head – how could those be fabricated?

“Somewhat.” Ryoken went on, one hand on his hip nonchalantly. “I’m actually impressed with your knowledge on how to imitate one. They wanted to build the perfect AI. They wanted to take the next step for humanity. But there are parts of a human you cannot recreate. A heart, a soul. They built you out of bits of me.”

Yusaku hobbled forward and struck the duel disk off the table. It landed on the ground with a hard thud. Anything, he thought, anything to get Ryoken to stop taunting.

“I wasn’t supposed to still be here.” He went on, regardless of Yusaku’s actions. His voice was slightly muffled, having landed with the top against the floor. “I was the failed part of the experiment. They wanted me gone. They wanted me gone, but I’m still here.”

“You’re lying!” Yusaku shouted, his voice echoing around the small room. He did fall to his knees then, unable to control the tears then. But where were they coming from? They were not man made, not being executed by machinery. He was human. He had to be human.

But then… why couldn’t he remember being eleven? Why couldn’t he remember his childhood? When was his birthday?

“Ryoken.” He whispered. “What… did they do to you?”

A door opened in the distance, followed by the clamor of footsteps. Yusaku couldn’t even bring himself to get up and run. He just stayed on the floor, with his back against one of the table’s legs, his head pounding.

He only managed to get back on his feet when Aoi entered the room, throwing her arms around him.

“Yusaku…!” she cried. “Yusaku, I’m so sorry…”

“Aoi,” Zaizen’s voice came in. “We have to get him back.”

“No!” she shrieked, spinning around, keeping her arms on him, protecting him. “He’s had his memory wiped so many times! I can’t go through it again! It’s not fair!”

Memory…what?

Aoi turned back to face him, hugging him tightly. “I’m sorry, Yusaku! I’m so sorry! All I ever wanted was to protect you!”

Yusaku felt his body twitch involuntarily. His head was still spinning. But he was starting to put the pieces together.

“You… killed him…” he whispered, gently pushing her off of him.

“…What?”

“You killed him!” He shouted, trying to step back, forgetting about the table and bashing into it, pain shooting through him. “You killed Ryoken!”

Aoi’s eyes were filled with tears. She kept her arms outreached towards him, but maintained a distance. Zaizen and Ema blocked the door. Yusaku gripped the table from behind, his eyes constantly moving back and forth, falling onto the abandoned duel disk.

“You…” she began. “You were never supposed to meet him!”

Her words only filled him with more dread. Then… it really was true. He could feel bile rising up in his stomach, but he swallowed it down.

“How… how could you?”

Zaizen stepped forward at that time, and placed a hand on Aoi’s shoulders as he shifted her off to the side, walking up to Yusaku.

“It’s not like that.” He answered. “Ryoken Kogami was already dying – there was no stopping the inevitable. What we did was… recycling, in a sense.”

Yusaku felt his mouth tighten. 

“Then what am I?” he demanded, again feeling his fear replaced with rage. He wanted answers, no matter the cost.

“You are Yusaku Fujiki. You’re what we were able to make out of the remains of Ryoken Kogami. In a way, you are him.”

Flashes appeared before Yusaku’s eyes. This room… the operation… his father…his? This was… Ryoken’s body? They had created him from another person’s body?

“Then why… why are you trying to hide all this?”

Zaizen turned his head down in shame. For a while, the only sound to be heard was Aoi’s sobbing. Despite everything, Yusaku couldn’t bring himself to be angry with her. She was as caught up in all this twistedness as he was – just doing what her brother said was best. As she always had.

Finally, Zaizen continued. “You weren’t good enough for his father. Then Dr. Kogami threatened the company…”

“He died before he could see through to them.” Ema piped in, arms folded, side leaning against the doorframe. “But by then SOL’s reputation had been shot. It was either sweep this under the rug, or face serious consequences.”

“But Yusaku, we…” Aoi started, walking up to him, her fingers laced together. “We couldn’t get rid of you. You’re alive! No matter what he’s been trying to tell you, you are alive! And we care about you!”

He knew that by ‘we’ she meant ‘her’ but Aoi wouldn’t be willing to put her brother and Ema in an awkward position. At the very least, Yusaku trusted her. He nodded a little, calming down, and got closer. She sighed contently as he wrapped his arms around her. 

At that moment, his eyes fell back on the duel disk.

“Then what… exactly have I been speaking to?” He asked. “A ghost?”

“Is this what all the fuss is about?” Everyone turned to Ema, who had picked up the duel disk, and held it at a considerable distance, using only her forefinger and thumb to keep it in place.

Right then, the duel disk began to spark. Ema shrieked as she dropped it, clasping her injured fingers. It started wriggling around on the floor, more electricity shooting through it. Aoi screamed, and Yusaku bolted in front of her.

“Yusaku!” Ryoken’s voice was distorted, lower-pitched, mixed with static. But he could still be clearly heard. “Yusaku! Yusaku!!”

It jolted more violently, the sparks becoming larger, hitting across the wall. Then Zaizen ran forward, throwing his jacket over it, before stomping onto it.

Yusaku gasped, unable to stop himself from reaching out. He had done all of this to protect Ryoken, and even if he couldn’t decipher the morality of the situation, he didn’t want anyone hurt.

But it was too late. The duel disk lay there, as Zaizen uncovered it, completely snapped in half.

~


	3. Chapter 3

Yusaku slept in Aoi’s room that night. On the floor, of course, and her brother had thrown an awful large protest, but he just felt more comfortable knowing she was there.

Still, rest did not come easily. His mind was racing – just who exactly was Ryoken? How could this possibly have been the best course of action in their minds? And finally, that Yusaku was part of him. He had seen bits and pieces of Ryoken when he concentrated, how much could he remember of his previous life?

His…

Were those Ryoken’s tears he had been crying, then? Whenever he felt on edge, were those Ryoken’s nerves? Was it his head that pounded, his heart that beat steadily? Was Yusaku only human because of Ryoken?

Who exactly was Yusaku Fujiki? An artificial life? Had he stolen something he was never meant to have? And how many times had he figured all this out before?

Questions he had wanted to ask before, but he was exhausted, and allowed himself to be escorted out of the building and back home. He still wasn’t sure exactly how much he could trust them, but at least he felt more comfortable bringing this up.

And Aoi was there to ensure he didn’t get his memories erased again.

He was about to drift off, when suddenly he felt his fingers start to twitch. It didn’t seem all that irregular to him at the start, but when a few minutes passed and they hadn’t stopped, he began to perk up. 

His arm soon started to twitch, and then the fingers from his other hand acted up as well.

“What…?” he whispered, unable to keep himself from speaking. 

Another voice, inside his mind, started screaming. “Did you really think it was coincidence that you found me in that duel disk?”

Yusaku cried out then. The pain caused by the loudness cramped his head, and he would have slapped his hands over his ears if he could. Aoi shot up from her bed.

“I told you I could access anything I was familiar with! That includes you, Yusaku Fujiki!”

“What’s going on?” She asked, throwing the sheets off of herself.

“Aoi!” Yusaku managed to shout. His body felt hot all over. His muscles moved and contorted, causing a sharp, stinging sensation as he fought to hold himself still. “Stay back!”

She froze, but he picked himself up, running after her. She shrieked, flinging open the door and rushing out. With his remaining strength, Yusaku slammed it shut, before he fell and convulsed on the floor.

“Ryoken…” he choked out, tears pouring down from his cheeks from all the pain. “Stop…”

“Why should I?” he screamed. A part of Yusaku wanted to stop and acknowledge that this was the first time he was hearing his actual voice, and not some computerization. But it didn’t matter as he continued. “You stole this body from me! I’m just taking it back!”

Yusaku rolled around, his feet hitting against the wall, the dresser. His hands and arms against the bed. 

“Ryoken!” He shouted. His arms and legs went limp; his head felt so heavy. 

He gasped loudly, as if oxygen couldn’t get into his lungs fast enough. Then his vision started to blur, black, white, red.

A new pain began to come over him, then his body went cold. The floor beneath him went soft, and he briefly wondered if somehow, he had gotten onto Aoi’s bed, but then he felt the pull of strong restraints on his wrists and ankles.

A shadow loomed over him, getting closer and closer, reaching for him.

And then Yusaku had spoken a word he never had before.

“Fa…ther… father… please…” he begged. “Please, don’t do this! I’ll get better! I promise I’ll get better!”

“It’s alright, son, it’s all going to be alright.”

He shivered hard, despite the restraints. He could feel something being fitted over his head, covering over his eyes, clicking in far too tight. Then a buzzing noise came on. He panted more, but it just became even more difficult to breathe. 

This was going to happen, and he was unable to stop it.

He was going to die – he was going to die…!

Overwhelmed by it all, he did the only thing he was able to. He fainted.

~

“Hello…?”

The first thing he noticed was the voice. The second was how cold it was, in the center of a hazy, light mist. He turned his head, seeing nothing, but feeling calm, content, happy in gaining the ability to move once more. He tested it by flexing his fingers, smiling a little.

Standing up was a bit of a challenge, but he managed, walking in the direction where he believed the voice to have come from. He called out, getting no answer except for his own echo.

Then, at last, a figure came into view. He headed closer, finding the energy to sprint, seeing that it was someone around his age, hunched over, hands over head, scared.

“Hello?” He asked.

The kid sat up and looked around. It was a little hard to recognize him based on a pixelated and undersized image, but there was no doubt who else it could be.

“Ryoken.”

He sat up. “Yusaku.”

Reaching out an arm, he went to go put it on his shoulders, but Ryoken flinched as he backed away.

“Don’t come near me!”

“I won’t hurt you…” Yusaku whispered. He kept his arm outstretched, almost as if silently begging for permission.

“Like hell you won’t!” his voice cracked, and Yusaku wondered if it was from lack of use. “After what I did? Why did they even make you? Why did they want you so badly?”

The words stung, and Yusaku went ahead and recoiled his reach, head hung low, unable to keep looking up at this boy.

But Ryoken continued. “Why didn’t… why didn’t they want me?”

Yusaku simply shook his head. “I couldn’t tell you. I wish I had answers. But I… I do think they wanted to save you.”

Ryoken slammed his eyes shut, putting his palms to his ears. “You don’t know my father! And you don’t know me!”

There was definitely truth to that. He didn’t know who this person was, how he grew up, what his dreams were, something as simple as his favorite food. His life had ended so abruptly, something he had never asked for, and something he had no control over.

Yusaku had lived every day of his life as a rhythm. He didn’t know what he wanted, what he hoped for in the future, it had never even crossed his mind. He thought about all the things he did to get to this point. Having to hide his actions, lie to the people closest to him, the only people he had ever really known. He even broke entries and stolen property. Never once second guessing himself.

Ryoken had hurt him.

The same way Aoi had hurt him, without ever really knowing it.

But their intentions had both been for the best. All Ryoken had wanted was his life back, and all Aoi had wanted was to protect the boy they had given it to. And now Yusaku stood at an impasse, somewhere between the two notions. Three children having to make difficult choices. 

Yusaku felt many things, but anger just wasn’t one of them. No matter how badly Ryoken wanted him to be.

If it hadn’t been for his actions, Yusaku would have never learned the truth.

“Ryoken...” he asked gently. “When’s your birthday?”

His face softened; he lowered his hands. His eyes had gone wide before shutting tight, as he began to cry. It wasn’t a quiet weep either, he let his mouth hang open as he wailed and bellowed, letting out years’ worth of frustration and sadness, letting it fill up the small space around them.

Yusaku went to move in, but he didn’t get a chance. Ryoken ran to him, wrapping his arms around, pressing the two together tightly.

They stood there for a while, Yusaku allowing him to mourn in peace.

He was so warm…

Where do they go from here?

Could he really return to a life that had been stolen? Would Ryoken even let him? Or would he let Ryoken take his place? That was the right thing to do, return his body, go back to being a normal kid. As normal as they could be, that was.

But that meant Yusaku would die.

Ultimately, he couldn’t bring himself to ask. He just let Ryoken continue crying in his shoulder, half-praying that it would never end and they would never have to return to reality.

“Yusaku?”

He looked over, expecting to see Ryoken speaking to him, but the other boy simply rested against his shoulder.

“Yusaku!”

The voice was becoming louder, more frantic. The mist increased, clouding his vision. He could feel Ryoken’s grip on him weaken, as something pulled the two apart.

And he began to panic.

They reached out for each other, trying desperately to maintain a grip, but to no avail.

Yusaku woke up on the floor of Aoi’s room.

“Yusaku!” She cried, throwing herself onto him.

He groaned – his muscles were still sore from the previous thrashings – but he let her hold him all the same. 

When she finally pulled away, she had a somber smile on. “I’m so glad! I was worried, I… do you need a doctor?”

“No…” he replied, attempting to stand up. He stumbled, and she helped him balance. “I’m fine. I promise.”

He could tell she doubted him, but she just kept a smile on and lead him out the room.

“There’s something I want to show you.”

Curious, he let her take him down the hallway. As they left, he turned back to glance at the closet door. How all this happened due to a clumsy robot’s miscalculations, and how they had almost worked, on the simple basis that no one had ever really noticed the door prior.

The duel disk was shattered and thrown out properly – in a way, that closet was the only physical proof Yusaku still had that any of this had ever happened.

Ema and Zaizen were waiting in the living room; Aoi set him down on the couch. He couldn’t fight the slight sense of dread he felt filling up in the pit of his stomach. But he set it aside.

In her hands, Ema held a large book, which she handed over to Yusaku. Upon inspection, he quickly realized it was a photo album. He gave them a puzzled look, but they grinned and told him to open it up, which he did, and immediately recognized the boy in the pictures.

Even at a younger age, he knew this was Ryoken, playing at parks, swimming, enjoying various foods. Smiling, laughing, living. Yusaku had seen him grin before, but this was different. It wasn’t nonchalant and relaxed, it was a wide, fantastic smile of a boy who genuinely enjoyed living his life.

Yusaku placed a hand on his chest, feeling out his heartbeat. Every thud, resounding, hard against his palm. And it hurt. It hurt terribly, but all the same, he was happy.

It was a deep, melancholy nostalgia that he couldn’t reason with. 

“Thank you.” He whispered, closing the photo album and holding it close.

Aoi leaned in, putting her arms around him.

“We shouldn’t have kept this from you. I’m so sorry.”

He didn’t want to respond. He didn’t want to think about the ugly parts of this situation. To him, at the moment, Ryoken felt so real. His presence was still potent in Yusaku’s mind, he didn’t want to break out of it and admit to the awful truth.

So instead, he thought of Aoi. This girl who had always tried to be there for him. Even if her actions could be questionable, her intentions were always pure, and when she realized the fault in her ways, she stopped. She had a deep, complete love for her friend. 

This photo album full of history, and a girl who spent her life worrying about someone else. These two lives who meant so much to him, who had so much to offer to this world. Compared to them, Yusaku was just… this nothing. He resided in a stolen body, in a family full of secrets, with no memory of his past, and no idea where to go with his future. 

Meanwhile, Ryoken was lost, his soul stuck somewhere Yusaku couldn’t name. 

Making an excuse about wanting some time alone, he took the album and headed to his room.

~

The setting sun was his only indication as to what time it was. Yusaku couldn’t be bothered to look over at the clock. He lay there on his bed, silently begging for sleep as a million thoughts raced around in his mind.

Out of habit, he reached down and clutched his wrist.

Maybe if he concentrated hard enough, he’d be able to regain all of Ryoken’s memories. His likes, his fears, his hopes. And let it wash over him until Ryoken was back.

That was the right thing to do. That’s what had to be done.

“…Yusaku?”

The voice startled him. He shot up from the bed, half expecting him to be standing there at the foot. But he was still all alone.

His next thought was perhaps Aoi was outside the door, but he knew that wasn’t the case. So, he simply laid himself back down, and shut his eyes.

“Yusaku… Yusaku…”

The mist hazed over, and took him in. And there was Ryoken, waiting.

“You can’t possibly think that’s true, can you?”

Yusaku tilted his head, genuinely confused. “What?”

“That you don’t deserve a chance at life.”

Oh.

“But… I stole it from you. I shouldn’t even be here! Isn’t that how you feel?”

There was an expression on Ryoken’s face that Yusaku couldn’t decipher. It was calm, but not relaxed, not angry or sad. Just this sort of content face from someone who had finally come to terms with everything that had happened to them.

He offered up the most pitiful little smile.

“Yusaku, I died.”

His words hit him harder than anything cruel he had said before. They both knew the truth, but it was something Yusaku had put into the back of his mind. Something he felt could be clouded away with smoke and mirrors.

Ryoken had just said it out loud, though.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Ryoken continued. “And yes, I did blame you. I still wish they hadn’t done their experiment, if I’m being perfectly honest, because here we both are, making a decision that a group of adults couldn’t make.”

“What do you mean?”

“The decision…” he took in a deep breath, as if to withhold the moment a bit longer. “To let go.”

Yusaku felt his body go limp, unleashing all the stress he had been building up to that point. But that didn’t stop the knot forming in his stomach.

“What are… you going to do?”

Still wearing that tiny smile, Ryoken walked over, putting his hands on his shoulders.

“Yusaku Fujiki…” he started, his voice becoming bolder and his tone more direct. “I need you to make me a promise.”

He nodded. Of course he would, how could he not?

“I need you to promise that you’ll finish living this life I left behind.”

The knot grew. “But… I don’t know how?”

“No one does. Not really. But you need to, because you still haven’t answered my question.”

“Which one?” There had been so many between the two, Yusaku could barely keep up.

“Just who are you?”

There was a pause as he let the words sink in. That was to be his purpose in life – to try and figure out what made him human, what made him Yusaku. He supposed, that had always been the meaning behind his life. He still didn’t know how to feel about it, but Ryoken was there to give him his blessing. 

But then, Ryoken…

“Where are you going to go?”

“Don’t know…” he admitted, pulling his hands back and turning around. “I guess, just onward.”

And then he started to walk. A slow, methodical walk, and the realization of what was about to happen hit Yusaku hard. His eyes widened, as he threw himself forward and yelled out.

“Ryoken!”

The boy spun back, surprised by the reaction. But Yusaku couldn’t just let him walk away. That may have been what Ryoken wanted, and there was no stopping it, yet he couldn’t turn around like that and leave without a proper send off.

Maybe it was selfish of Yusaku to ask, but he couldn’t help it. 

“Please…” he begged, his voice shaking. “Give me something to remember you by?”

Ryoken snickered, and Yusaku felt a little annoyed by it. This wasn’t a joke, after all.

“You already have my life,” he replied, “What more could I possibly give you?”

The guilt Yusaku was feeling continued to grow, but he persisted. This would be the last time, the absolute last time, he would see Ryoken as Ryoken. The photo album and closet door would serve as tokens, but they had existed before this, and they didn’t serve as a personal reminder that this all indeed happened, and had a great impact on Yusaku.

He wanted something more personal, something he could look back on in the years to come, to remind himself just why he kept trudging along in this world. Because from then on, he would have to live with looking in the mirror, and not always knowing who it was looking back.

“Please…?” he stammered.

Ryoken didn’t snicker that time. Instead, he sauntered back over, and outstretched his arms. Yusaku repeated the action, expecting to be embraced, but Ryoken put his hands over his cheeks, pulling him in, pressing their lips together. 

He would have gasped if his mouth had been free, but after the initial shock, he went ahead and melted into it. His hands clung into Ryoken’s shirt, as his thumbs brushed along Yusaku’s face, moving his hair a little bit.

Their lips parted slowly, hesitantly, even from Ryoken’s end. They stared into the other’s eyes for a while after that, as if memorizing every detail their faces had to offer. Ryoken ran his fingers through Yusaku’s hair once more, then turned around and headed out. Yusaku stood perfectly still until his silhouette had completely disappeared into the horizon.

Feeling anxious, even then, he couldn’t resist calling out his name. First once, then the echoes faded, and he called out again. The third time, he simply whispered it. Not in an attempt to bring him back, but just so he could hold onto the memory of what exactly they had, and who exactly they were.

And that was how it came to be that Ryoken Kogami died.

But Yusaku waited there, knowing he would never return to this place, at least not for a while. And when that day happened, the two would meet again, and never part after that.

Until then, however, he had to move forward as Yusaku Fujiki.

The mist thickened, carrying almost a presence all of its own, enveloping over him, taking him away from all of this.

Yusaku woke up.

~


End file.
